Council Bluffs teen dies from bacterial meningitis

A Council Bluffs teen who was home on winter break from Abraham Lincoln High School has died from bacterial meningitis. Fifteen-year old Ashley Andreasen died Friday, one-day after being diagnosed with the condition. John Andreasen said his daughter was given antibiotics through an I-V soon after she arrived at the Jennie Edmundson Hospital emergency room.

A brain scan showed that at time there was no swelling of her brain, but she was having small seizures that caused her muscles to tense up and then shake. Her father says she was also disoriented and didn’t know where she was or what was happening. Doctors decided to transfer her to Children’s Hospital in Omaha and she was taken by ambulance about 11 p.m. Thursday.

A scan at Children’s showed that her brain was starting to swell, and she died about 6:30 p.m. Friday. Andreasen said his daughter had been a healthy teen, although she did have a case of mononucleosis about three or four months ago. Doctors told him that the mononucleosis could have weakened her immune system, leaving her more susceptible to meningitis.